PSCI 23100 - Modern West Political Thought

Course Credit: 1
MODERN WEST POLITICAL THOUGHT: This course surveys the development of political concepts in modern Western thought. We will trace paradigmatic shifts in political ideas about sovereignty, the state and rights as they begin to surface in 17th and 18th century European thought, evidenced in the writings of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Kant, amongst others. And we will compare these ideas with the thinking of some prominent 19th and 20th century critics, including Bentham, Mill, Marx, and Nietzsche. Through close textual readings and contextual analysis, we will engage in a systematic comparison of our assumptions about politics with those expressed in these philosophical debates. And, in so doing, we will attempt to further our understanding of contemporary politics and the problems particular to our own political practices. Alternate Years [HSS]